The Weight of Memory

Product Description
"Smucker crafts beautiful sentences and haunting characters that immerse readers in a world where anything is possible but not everything is real. Recommended for fans of Ted Dekker or Tosca Lee."--
Library Journal
***\nWhen Paul Elias receives a terminal diagnosis, he leaves his physician's office in a fog. Only one thing is clear to him: if he is going to die, he must find someone to watch over his granddaughter, Pearl, who has been in his charge since her drug-addicted father disappeared. Paul decides to take her back to Nysa--both the place where he grew up and the place where he lost his beloved wife under strange circumstances forty years earlier.\nBut when he picks up Pearl from school, the little girl already seems to know of his plans, claiming a woman told her.\nIn Nysa, Paul reconnects with an old friend but is not prepared for the onslaught of memory. And when Pearl starts vanishing at night and returning with increasingly bizarre tales, Paul begins to question her sanity, his own views on death, and the nature of reality itself.\nIn this suspenseful and introspective story from award-winning author Shawn Smucker, the past and the present mingle like opposing breezes, teasing out the truth about life, death, and sacrifice.\n"A resonant allegory about forgiveness and faith. Fans of James Rubart will want to take a look."--
Publishers Weekly
From the Back Cover
Memories are never truly forgotten.They are simply waiting to be remembered.
When Paul Elias receives a terminal diagnosis, only one thing is clear to him: if he is going to die, he must find someone to watch over his granddaughter, Pearl, who has been in his charge since her drug-addicted father disappeared. Paul decides to take her to Nysa--both the place where he grew up and the place where he lost his beloved wife under strange circumstances forty years earlier.\nPaul reconnects with an old friend but is not prepared for the onslaught of memory. And when Pearl starts vanishing at night and returning with increasingly bizarre tales, Paul begins to question her sanity, his own views on death, and the nature of reality itself.\nIn this mesmerizing story from award-winning author Shawn Smucker, past and present mingle like opposing breezes, teasing out the truth about life, death, and sacrifice.
About the Author
Shawn Smucker is the award-winning author of
Light from Distant Stars and
These Nameless Things, the young adult novels
The Day the Angels Fell and
The Edge of Over There, and the memoir
Once We Were Strangers. He lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at www.shawnsmucker.com.